Gearing



(No Model.)

H. B. KEIPER.

GEARING.

No. 605,722. v Patented June 14,1898.

UNITED STATES;-

PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY B. KEIPER, OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

GEARI NG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 605,722, dated June 14, 1898. Application filed March 7, I898. Serial No. 672,893. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, HENRY B.KEIPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lancaster, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gearing; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the.same..

This invention relates to that class of gearing wherein antifriction-rollers take the place of teeth in transmitting motion; and the principal object in the present case is to provide improved means for properly confining the rollers in place in the body of the gear, where-' by individual adjustment of said rollers and their maintenance in accurate alinement can be had.

With this object in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter described and the essential elements of which are recited in the appended claims.

The drawings which accompany and form part of this specification illustrate preferred forms of embodiment of the invention, in which V I Figure 1 represents in side elevation abevel gear-wheel embodying the invention. Fig. 2 represents the same in end elevation. Fig. 3 represents a portion of the gear-wheel in cross-section on the line III III of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line IV IV of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, illustratin g a modification.

In the drawings the reference-letter a designates the body portion of the gear-wheel, which may be mounted in any suitable manner upon a shaft to and which is here shown as formed with a beveled periphery wherein an encircling groove 1) is cut, the said groove having considerable depth and being provided in its bottom with a series of equidistant sockets 0. These sockets preferably extend substantially the full width of the groove, and the bottom of each socket is in the arc of a circle in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 4. The encircling groove is designed to containa series of balls d, which seat in the sockets 0, respectively, and which are adapted to coact with teeth of an intermeshing gear-wheel for driving purposes. Each of the balls is confined in place by means of a pair of headless screws e, which are entered through opposite sides of the encircling groove and are cupped in their confronting ends, as shown at e in Fig. 3, so as to conform with the spherical'surface of the ball. By

' means of these screws it will be obvious that the ball can be adjusted in the desired position with respect to the sides of the groove, and, moreover, each ball is independently adjustable, and hence the balls can be kept in proper alinement, notwithstanding unequal wear. The ball-confining screws may be locked at any adjustment byany suitable meansas, for example, small tapered screws fentered alongside the main screws, as shown in Fig. 3, or jam-nuts maybe employed, as shown in Fig. 5, where the letter 9 designates such nuts applied to the ballconfining screws.

It is important that the balls seat in sockets in the base of the groove, as explained, so that the driving strain on the screws will be relieved by providing a direct driving en gagement between the balls and the body of the gear-wheel.

It is evident that the invention is capable of embodiment in other forms of gear-wheels or gear members than that here shown, and hence it is to be understood that the invention embraces various kinds of gear members in which it can be embodied. Therefore in the claims which follow the invention is not restricted to the particular construction shown.

Gearing such as herein shown and described is especially advantageous in chainless bicycles, but is useful in many other connections.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A gear comprising a body portion having a groove, balls in said groove, and screws entering the latter and cupped for engagement with the balls to confine the same in place, substantially as described.

2. A gear comprising a body portion having a groove, balls in said groove, and screws entered through opposite sides of the groove screws arranged in pairs entered through opposite sides of the groove and cupped in their confronting ends for engagement with the balls to confine the latter in place, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY B. KEIPER.

\Vitn esses:

HARVEY B. LUTZ, LUCY R. KEIPER. 

